July 14, 2012

carrot and coriander soup

If you tell me I can't have something it inevitably makes me want it more. I'm guessing you know the feeling. So say you are in a restaurant and you smile and make small talk with the chef about Swiss chicken farms and then in a tone bordering on begging ask if perhaps just maybe he would share his recipe for that edible spiced velvet that he referred to as carrot and coriander soup, and all you get in response is a sideways smile and a quick topic change. Frustrating, right? Gosh Darn it! If you are anything like me it means that all hopes of a productive afternoon are lost into the black hole - commonly known as the internet - as you search for a recipe that hints at the magic of the original. 
I had a head start: I knew that the soup was a vegan soup. In a country where soup seems to be another name for hot cream with a faint murmur of flavor stirred in, this was nothing short of amazing; a thick, smooth and richly flavored soup without any of the cream ladled guilt. None of us ordered the soup because we simply assumed it was cream based, and to our credit so did the waitress when we asked her, "Oh, there is definitely cream in there" she said. Hmpf! Here's to educating the wait staff. Anyway, surprised that we had all chosen the salad to start the chef came to ask us why and we all feigned cream aversion. Disgruntled that we had made false assumptions and that our waitress had bolstered them, he sent out shot glass sized soup portions for all of us to try. Before I even had a chance to swallow the sweet spiced soup I thought, "Best Soup Ever?"

Isn't it funny how one meal, generally the meal you are eating, if it is good, can overshadow ever other meal you've eaten? What about my favorite onion soup at that cute little restaurant in Providence with the yellow and green striped awning that serves warm slices of french bread alongside bubbling bowls of cheesy-oniony goodness? Totally forgotten; at least momentarily. 

The sweetness of the cooked carrots and the nutty lemon spice of the coriander mingle in a way that will make you question if there are carrots in the soup at all, and if not, then what on earth is the magic ingredient that renders the soup so darn tasty. Since the chef wouldn't share, I can't be sure that his recipe doesn't include love potion #9 and unicorn horn, but I can tell you that I made something pretty darn similar with only carrots, onions, coriander and vegetable broth. 
I guess the question a lot of you might have right now is not about magical ingredients, but about why on earth I want to make a hot soup in the middle of July. If you are one of those people I'm guessing that you are in the States, riding the standing-wave of an intense mid-summer heat that shows no signs of relenting. But, you see, here in Zürich it has been rainy and grey. It seems that every sunny day is followed by four rainy days. In a country without air-conditioning this is really more of a gift than a curse. And if rain is a gift, then this soup is a stocking stuffer. 

It's a bit surprising that I love this soup so much considering that generally I prefer soups with texture and chunks. I guess this soup is an exception. I resisted the urge to plop big crusty croutons in it, and instead ate some toast smeared with goat cheese and honey. I brought the bread and cheese back from Paris. It was rainy and cold there too and since I couldn't make soup I ate pastries and torn baguettes slathered in butter and cheese. It was only there for three days; I left on Wednesday and got back yesterday, but apparently that is enough time to form a madeleine habit, a goat cheese addiction and a full blow crush on Paris, even rainy Paris. 
// carrot and coriander soup //
Jamie Oliver

ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 lb / 450 g carrots, sliced
1 medium onion, sliced
1 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
4 cups / 1 liter vegetable stock
bunch of fresh coriander (cilantro) chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a medium sized pot over medium heat. Add the onions and carrots and cook until they start to get soft, about 5 minutes. Add in the ground coriander and continue to cook for another minute. Pour in the vegetable stock and bring it to a boil and then lower the heat to a simmer. Cook uncovered until the vegetables are soft, about 20-25 minutes. Using an immersion blender or regular blender, blend the soup until super smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste and perhaps a little more ground coriander if you wish. Stir in the freshly chopped coriander and serve.
Rain seems to follow visitors into town, obscuring the mountains and making touring a soggy activity. To show our friends that the mountains really are there at the end of the lake we took a quick day trip to Flumserberg where we ooo'd and ahhh'd at the Wallensee, hiked through the clouds and rode the Floomzer back down. Assured that the Alps exist they left for Iceland in search of rotten shark.

13 comments:

  1. Why is it that so often the simplest recipes are the best? It was 90º here today and I would have happily slurped that bowl down, along with that bread and cheese and those beautiful apricots. What a sight! And I love how you just can hop over to Paris and eat a baguette and travel home with cheese still in tact. VERY jealous. Beautiful pics as always. Wish I could visit.

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  2. I wish you could visit too Ali! That would be so fun, and just think of all the granola we could make and eat, perhaps with some bircher muesli mixed in. I know, it's so true about the simplest recipes being the best. This one is a keeper. I love that I can just whip it up whenever I feel like it and it only takes about 30minutes. Hope it cools down a bit for you.

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  3. It's no surprise that Tal's cooking beat the rotten shark... and just about everything else we ate! Can't wait to try out this recipe (and come visit again!)

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    1. Come visit all the time! Move in! How was the shark?

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  4. Soup is a magical thing, and an exquisite bowl can shake me up like no other meal. The next dreary day that comes, I look forward to trying this carrot and coriander soup with some freshly harvested carrots.

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  5. Oh gosh this looks great, I love how simple it sounds. It is hot over here (which I love), but I love good vegetable soups year round. And that lunch looks so, so perfect! Looking at that beautiful toast with goat cheese, honey, and apricots alongside a cup of soup makes me jealous with you. What a great way of eating. And I agree with Ali-- beautiful photos, as always.

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  6. I love the photos in this post, so simply styled yet very beautiful.

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  7. The soup sounds delicious. The next two days I is goint to be too warm here to make and eat soup, but next weekend is supposed to be cold again (at least in Berne). We're having a cold summer in Switzerland this year, I still hope for bathing weather though.
    I love simple flavours and carrot soups, so the next cold day I need to be making this soup.

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    1. These last few sunny days have been such a treat. I hate to think that rain is on the way again, maybe even tonight. I'm hoping for swimming weather too, I haven't been in the lake yet either.

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  8. Sigh. Talley, I'll say it again - so jealous of your life in Switzerland! This soup sounds delicious... once I get my kitchen counters cleaned off (still moving everything around and deciding where it will go), I'll make this. Lovely, lovely photos.

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    1. Darcy! Zach and I watched the Zürich triathalon this weekend. You and Rob should do it next year! They even have an ironman if you are feeling extra active. I'm twiddling my thumbs waiting for house posts over at garden-of-eden!

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  9. These photos (that fog!) are beautiful, Talley. Wish I could pull up a chair and join you for a cup of that soup -- and some Parisian bread and cheese, too. Eli pokes fun at me for eating soup and drinking hot tea even on the hottest days, so - especially with the carrots we've been getting from our CSA - this soup says summer, to me. I have a carrot soup that I've been making for the last couple of years (it has fennel and fennel seeds) and I love it to pieces, but I've been thinking that I'm ready for something new. Et voila! Thanks for this.

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    1. Tea and soup are good for the soul and thus appropriate all year long. At least that is what I tell Zach when he questions my tea consumption in the middle of a hot afternoon. Soup with carrots and fennel sounds delicious. I have a favorite red pepper and fennel soup, but I will have to try carrots and fennel next. I've made this carrots and coriander three times already in the last couple weeks so it might be time for me to change it up as well.

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